Green Nano-Visions And Their Policy Consequences

I argue that environmental visions about nanotechnology from the mid-1980s to 2000s initially encouraged exclusive exploration on nanotechnology’s applications during the first years of the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). Scientists’ and policy-makers’ early attention on applications delayed investigation into nanotechnology’s potential risks and environmental implications. I apply historical research methodologies, and my materials include the personal papers of leading scientists, scientific publications, and internal emails from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), along with other government documents.  Between the mid-1980s and 2000s, key figures such as Eric Drexler, Nobel scientist Richard Smalley, and National Science Foundation administrator Mihail Roco all promoted visions of nanotechnology that would make anthropogenic activity more environmentally sustainable. Their green nano-visions helped inspire creation of the NNI, in which initial research focused on realizing nanotechnology’s promises. Internal EPA emails during these crucial early years of the NNI reveal that even the government agency tasked with protecting environmental and human health mostly overlooked the environmental, health, and safety (EHS) risks of new nanomaterials in excitement over nanotechnology’s environmental applications. Today, despite numerous studies revealing the likely toxicity of some nanomaterials to humans, soils, plants, and other organisms, only three percent of the NNI budget is dedicated to EHS implications. Uncovering the early environmental visions of nanotechnology helps explain why American efforts to explore nanotechnology’s EHS issues were initially delayed and remain underfunded.